Rattlesnake Arches on a Halloween Weekend

On Hallowe’en the thing you must doIs pretend that nothing can frighten youAnd if somethin’ scares you and you want to runJust let on like it’s Hallowe’en fun.~Author unknown

What’s scarier than taking your kids on an adventure on which they could easily fall to their death? Not much.

Which is exactly why hiking Rattlesnake Arches on the weekend before Halloween was so perfect!

Depending on the day I might confess to you that I’m afraid of everything….or I’m fearless. [Though, technically, all you have to do is put on a mascot costume and I’ll probably run away and pee my pants].

But put my kids’ lives in danger and I’m terrified. Even Matt standing on the edge of a cliff triggers my fight=or-flight mechanism!

So, of course, with the whole idea of Halloween being fear-induced gaiety, we just had to do it!

I LOVE the route we took this time: down through the first arch, along the bottom until we could see the river, then a steep exposed scramble up up up back to the rim, along the rim, and back to the top.

Here is Trinity, braving the narrow walls of the First Arch.

Isn’t she wonderful? Yes. Yes she is.

Here is Tim, coaching Connor down through the first arch. It absolutely melts my heart to see Tim play the big-brother. Matt and Trinity were both all the way down, but when Connor started to show stress, it was TIM that ran up to help him. Oh the feels this gives me!!!

My attempt at an artsy-fartsy tree picture.

My awesome hiking companions! Trail-blazing Trinity, Tim the fearless, Matt the mentor, and Connor the dragon-tamer. I make sure we stay together. I’m the glue.

I talked Connor into braving his fear and putting his hand through this hole. He didn’t take much joy in it until it was over.

Matt.

We found a little snack spot on the edge of the lower trail, overlooking Rattlesnake Canyon. Matt found his own private perch.

Connor and his mama.

I just love this area- it’s so beautiful! And I was so thrilled that they all followed me up this sketchy bi-pass. It ended up saving us 2 miles of hiking and put us through the rigors of elevation gain and exposure, but I think it was worth it. Most of all, I LOVE finding the better, faster way. I think that’s my jam.

Tim was the only one brave enough to join Matt out on this double toilet bowl arch. I love their camaraderie.

Matt. I love him so much! And thusly, every time he went out on the precipice I had to freak out. He said he was testing his fear of heights. I think he was just testing my visceral fear reaction. Or my incontinence level.

Tim and Trin scoping out the view! This was an incredible spot to play with echoes. They would go out out out out, then echo over to the left. It was weird and awesome as shit!

Yup. Love getting shots of my kids mid-air. You can see the lower trail below us.

Trinity, finding her confidence and her voice.

Group selfie to conclude our trip! Another successful run around Rattlesnake Arches. LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!